Valve Confirms Dota 2 Will be Free

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But not in the traditional way, according to Gabe Newell.

By Charles Onyett

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has confirmed that Dota 2 will be a free to play game, as expected, but also mentioned the payment structure will "have some twists." This information came out of a podcast with Seven Day Cooldown.

No specific details were given beyond that, but Newell did hint that whatever payment structure winds up being incorporated could somehow separate well-behaved, skilled players from skilled total jerks who spam chat channels with foul language, insults and irritating nonsense.

Newell also mentioned that aside from Valve-produced content in Dota 2, the game will very likely include community created items in the way that Team Fortress 2 does, as well as potential items like a Skyrim mount as a Dota 2 item courier. The Skyrim mount was just a hypothetical example provided by Newell, but wouldn't be all that surprising – Team Fortress 2 already incorporates numerous item crossovers with other Steam titles.

Dota 2 still has no release date and is currently in closed beta testing.